Thermosensitive device for heat-motors with lagging-jackets.



PATENTED JULY 3, 1906.

W. M. FULTON. THBRMOSBNSITIVE DEVICE FOR HEAT MOTORS WITH LAGGING JACKETS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 1,1903.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WESTON M. FULTON, OE KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE, ASSIGNOR TO THE FULTON COMPANY, OF KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE, rA CORPORATION OF MAINE.

THERMOSENSITIVE DEVICE FOR HEAT-MOTORS WITH LAGGING-JACKETS.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented July 3, 1906.

Application ned Jun'niaoa.- semina 159.677.

cold and some movable part or parts operated 4by said thermosensitive device.

This invention relates to the thermosensitive device` It has b een heretofore proposed to confine an expansive agent in an expansible and collapsible vessel and utilize theexpansion and contraction'of the vessel due to the increase or decrease in volume of the expansive agent with changes in temperature as a means for obtaining motive power. Where the range of temperature is very great-as, for example,l

in the case of atmospheric temperature-it has been necessary to provide a large range of expansion and contraction of the vessel 1n order that slight changes in temperature may produce any material change in volume of the vessel.

My invention 'has for its object 'the con-V struction of a device which will give greaty extent of motion with slight temperature changes and which will at the, same time oscillate back and forth between certain ixed'limits regardless of how high er how Y low the temperature may go. With this Object in view it consists in connecting together two collapsible and expansible vessels, each containing an expansive agent, and providing a heat-laggin jacket for one, of the vessels, so asjto ren er it sluggish to changes of temperaturewhich may takeplace outside of the lagging]acket, thereby giving'its temperature variations a' lag relatively to the variations of. the temperature of the atmosphere. I prefer toemploy a saturated vapor as the expansive agent in the vessels but an other suitable expansive agent may be use Oneform which. the inventive idea may l assume is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, Whichis'a central vertical section a thermosensitive device made according t0 the present Invention,

to operate.

Insaid drawing, 1 is an expansive and col l'apsible vessel having rigid end walls 3.and 4 5 5 vand flexible lateral walls 5, and 2 is a like ves sel having rigid end Walls 6 and'7 and flexible lateral walls 8. The vessel 1 is inclosedin a thick jacket .of some heat-retarding substance, as animal hair or wool 9, packed 6o 'between retaining-walls 10 and 11 the interior dimensions of the latter being larger than vessel 1, so as to afford roomior the expansioii thereof. The rigid erfd walls 4 and 7 of the respective vessels 1 and 2 are firmly 65 secured to the respective inner and outerr walls of the lagging-jacket, and the wallsv 3 and 6 of 4said vessels are connected by rods 12 13, preferably composed of some substance which is not-a ready conductor of .7o

, heat, as wood. Secured to the rigid end wall 6 of vessel 2 is a rod or cable 14, which may be connected in any suitable Way to the movableparts which the device is esigned In order that the device may operate to the best advantage, the pressure of the expansive agent in one vessel should exactly balance that in the other when both vessels are at the same temperature. Where it is 8o4 desirable to have the vessels unequal in diameter, an equality of pressure may be obtained by the proper selection of expansiveagents.

I, however, prefer to have the vessels of e ual diameter, so that thesurface areaowall3s all 8 5 be equal to the surface area of wall 6. Both vessels may then be charged with the same kind of expansive agent. For example, sup-y pose the vessels 1 and 2 to be of equal diameter and be charged with an expansive agent, 9e preferably a saturated vapor, as boron trichlorid, ethyl chlorid, or ethylene oxid, Y

' all of the air having been first expelled from the vessels. Then when both vessels are `at the same temperature the pressure'exerted 95 by the vapor upon wall' 3 will just ve ual the pressure on Wall 6. l Now suppose t e temperature of the atmosphere to change-ee rise. Then 4vessel 1, being inclosed in t ev heat-retarding jacket, will not beimmediately i oo aected by the\ change, but vessel 2, being exposed directly to the atmosphere, will immediately become warmer, and the pressure of the vapor therein will becomegreater than the pressure of the vapor in vesl m5. sel 1. This will cause vessel 2v to expand thereby forein vessel 1 to collapse, and since saturate vapors change in volume without change in tension the expansion' of vessel 2 and contraction of vessel 1 will continue until the respective vessels have reached their limits of expansion and contraction. By making the vessels suicientl long I am thus enabled to obtain as much7 motion as I please with slight changes in temperature. It is evident that when the temperature of t-he atmosphere falls the temperature of vessel ljl will la(lr behind the temperature of vessel 2, and the latter becoming cooled below the temperature of the former will be forced to collapse by the greater pressure of the former. By properly regulating the thickness of the laggingjacket the temperature of vessel 1 may be made to lag behind that of vessel 2 just sufficient-ly to obtain the best results. It is .to be understood that I use the term saturated vapor in its well-known technical sense-' viz., a vapor in the presence of it-s own liquid. 1

Having thus described the invention, what is claime isfx v 1. The combination of an expansible and collapsible vessel containing an expansive agent and protected from variations in temperature, with an expansible and collapsible vessel containing an expansive agent and exposed to variations in temperature, and means connecting movable parts of said vesse s.

2. The combination of an cxpansible and collapsible vessel containing a saturated vapor and protected from variations in tempera- 82eme ture, with an expansible and collapsible ves-- sel containing a saturated vapor and exposed to variations in temperature, and means connectin movable parts of said vessels.

'f 3. he combination of two connected expansible and collapsible vessels each containing an expansive a ent, and a heat-retalrding jacket surroun ing one of said vesse s.

4 The combination of two connected expansible and collapsible vessels each containing a saturated vapor, and a heat-retarding jacket surrounding one of said vessels.

5. The combination of two expansible and collapsible vessels each containing an expansive a ent, means isolating one vessel from the in uence of atmospheric temperature, and non heatconducting connections between movable parts of said vessels.

6. The combination of a jacket or casing composed of non-heat-conducting material, an expansible and collapsible vessel within said casing and having rigid end walls one of which is secured to a wall -of the casing, a second expansible and collapsible vessel Without said casing and having rigid end walls one of which is secured to a wall of said casing and means connecting the free end walls of said vessels.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscrib- .WESTON M. FULTGN.

ing witnesses.

' Witnesses:

J. F. VooRHEEs, 'HUGH M. TA'rE. 

